


Lunchables

by heartisafist



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 21:03:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/740137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartisafist/pseuds/heartisafist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little things make all the difference</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunchables

**Author's Note:**

> Re-wrote this little thing after I lost the original somewhere on tumblr. The original wasn't anything special anyway. Just feelings on Lunchables.

Sometimes they're in a place long enough that Sam and Dean both get to eat school lunches on the state's budget. Other times, John thinks it's only going to be a couple weeks and doesn't bother with a meal plan. His meal plan is leaving cash out on the table or calling in a pizza. Pizza means dinner for at least two days.

But sometimes, John stays gone longer than the money lasts. Sometimes they have to make cold pizza stretch for a four days, and only use the cash when that runs out. So there isn't always money for special things. Sam doesn't usually get sent to school with a lunch packed in his backpack for him. 

Every once in awhile though, Dean surprises him. He'll go down to the store and get a Lunchable for Sam if he thinks they can spare three or four bucks. Not one of those tiny cheese-and-cracker gas station ones either. He'll get a big one, one that comes with a silver Caprisun and a piece of candy or cookie, some kind of dessert that he hopes makes Sam feel like he's as fortunate as the other kids. At least for one meal.

Sam loves it. Dean won't tell him, just slips the Lunchable into his backpack, so sometimes it's a little lukewarm by lunchtime. But it may as well be the best thing in the world. And every single time, Sam saves the treat out of his Lunchable for Dean. Even at a young age, he wants Dean to have surprises too. He's not responsible enough to handle money yet, so he can't buy his brother anything. 

But Sam can save that bite-sized candy bar easy enough. When Dean's not looking, Sam will tuck whatever his dessert was into Dean's backpack for him to find the next day. Dean always does - he comes home grinning, laughing about how Sam' too sneaky for his own good. Then he'll thank him, maybe hug him, and that's that. But they've both had two good days in a row, even if they've come home hungry again.

Now they're grown men subsisting on hustling games of pool and credit card scams. They appreciate the small things now a lot more than they did as kids, but Dean still likes to surprise Sam sometimes. They'll stop at a gas station for food and a fill up and Dean will pile back into the car with a couple bags of truckstop-quality food. 

One bag for him and one for Sam, and every now and then, Sam finds a Lunchable in his. "What the hell, Dean?" he'll mutter, but open it with the same kind of reverence he did as a kid, peeling the cardboard open carefully, sliding the plastic tray out and then shaking the Caprisun pouch out. Sometimes Sam accidentally bends the straw funny, or stabs it right through the back of the pouch. 

But no matter what junk Dean bought for himself, Sam always saves the candy for him, carefully placing it up on Dean's side of the dashboard for him or on his knee while they're driving. 

It's hard sometimes to see the good in living motel to motel, but the little things - like bite-sized Crunch bars resting like an ornament on the dash of the Impala - make all the difference.


End file.
